Great photos of America's National Recreation Trails

American
Trails is delighted to present the
winners of the 2009 Photo Contest
for National Recreation Trails. In
celebration of these great trails
we are presenting awards in several
categories to highlight the diversity
of NRTs, from backcountry trails to
urban greenways.

2009
National Recreation Trails WINNING
PHOTOS

NOTE:
you may link to these pages and photos
but unauthorized copying is forbidden:
all rights reserved to the photographers
who provided these photos.

Category -- Photo Subject - CLICK
on PHOTOS to SEE FULL SIZE--
National Recreation Trail name
-- Photographer and Affiliation

TRAIL
USE CATEGORIES

Hiking and Walking -- Descent from the Saddle

-- Hikers heading south on the Mount Timpanogos National Recreation Trail, near American Fork, Utah

--
photo by Eddie Gerritsen

Equestrian
Trails -- Riding the Rail Trail

--
Equestrians and cyclists share the Heritage Rail Trail County Park, York County, Pennsylvania

--
photo by Carl R. Knoch, York County Rail Trail Authority

Paddling and Water Trails -- Juniata River, Pennsylvania

-- Trailhead signs at Howe Township Park on the Juniata River Water Trail

-- photo by Karl King, Allegheny Ridge Corp.

Bicycling -- Bicycling the Badlands

--
Maah Daah Hey Trail, ND, near the north end

--
photo by John Reimer and Lorne Reimer

Accessibile Trails -- Woodlands Hike-a-Thon

-- Mrs. Gentner, who the Gentners Fritillaries were named after, hiking the Jacksonville (OR) Woodlands National Recreation Trail.

-- photo by Lloyd Smith

TRAIL
MANAGEMENT

Trail Sharing -- Hikers meet Horses

-- A group of hikers that camped overnight at the Palisades Lower Lake meets a horseman on the Palisades Creek National Recreation Trail

--
photo by Palisades District Staff, USFS

Trail Work-- Volunteers Building a Bridge

-- Ouachita National Recreation Trail in Oklahoma during the Western End Extravaganza

-- photo by Loretta Melancon

Health and Fitness -- Senior Walking Group

-- Heritage Rail Trail County Park, York County, Pennsylvania

-- photo by Carl R. Knoch, York County Rail Trail Authority

Volunteers -- George S. Mickelson Trail Trek Bicycle Ride

-- To park 600 bikes in an open lot, volunteer Mike Cody came up with the idea of using two end posts, rope strung between them and two big, wide rubber bands per bike.

-- photo by Brooke Smith

TRAIL
FEATURES

Arts and
Interpretation -- Eastern Continental Divide

--
Great Allegheny Passage Trail; the Continental Divide is celebrated by murals on the tunnel under the road

--
photo by Mary Shaw

Rail and
Canal Trails -- Ice Storm on the Trail

-- Tunnel Hill State Trail, Johnson County, southernmost Illinois

-- photo
by Jonathan Voelz

Innovative Facilities -- Stairs up Bow Ridge

-- West Penn Trail passes over Conemaugh Lake, where the tunnel that carried the railroad is now plugged, so bicyclists must climb over the ridge. These stairs make the climb easier.

--
Both a railroad and a canal followed this route. A park in Saltsburg shows where one of the canal locks once was. The West Penn Trail is part of the Pittsburgh to Harrisburg Mainline National Recreational Trail.